Fastening means for building construction



F eb.

M. H. CARPENTER FASTENING MEANS FOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed Dec. 4, 1941 v H: 11.3 4H:

iii Isnvcntor Patented Feb. 8, 1944 FASTENING MEANS FOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Miles Harold Carpenter, Severna Park, Md.

Application December 4, 1941, Serial No. 421,860

8 Claims.

This invention relates to fastening means for building construction, and more particularly to fastening means for securing together adjacent wall panels, partition or fioor sections, or other portions of a building construction, for example posed, and plywood, wood fiber sheets, or other a prefabricated house or a boat, pontoon, trailer, facing material l6, I1, l8, 18 secured on both the etc. In the following description of an illustrafront and back surfaces of both the framing tive embodiment of my invention, the words members. The adjacent edges of the framing building construction are used in the generic members are tongue-and-groove shaped, the facsense to indicate any type of structure comprism ing material terminating substantially fiush with ing a number of parts adapted to be secured tothe shoulders 20, 2| of the tongue 22 and groove gether to form the whole. 23 respectively.

Objects of this invention are to provide fasten- In a central lengthwise plane the framing meming means which may be built into the portions bers are arcuately cut out forming recesses 24, of a structure before assembly, which will not 25, as by kerfing with a circular saw. protrude from the structural units in transporta- A lock bar 30 has a loose fit within the space tion, which will be securely and positively held formed by these two adjacent kerfs. A pivot pin against being lost out of the structure, and which or bushing All is driven into a hole 26 bored may be actuatedeither for fasteni or unfasthrough the framing member and through a hole tening-from without the structural member 3| in th pivot end of the look bar. A locking wherein contained, with only a small circular surpin 50 is inserted into a hole 21 bored through the face opening or openings requiredfor access. framing member of the other section. Both holes Further objects are to provide installation for are bored in parallel to each other and perthe fas ening elements which shall be well pendicular to the fiat faces of the two panel memadapted to simple machine fabrication, which bers. In each case the pins are inserted before shall allow of the ready emplacement of the fasthe facing is applied, and their ends are comteni g elements, which shall pro id 8 811118 fi pletely covered on one side, and partially covered and at the sametime allow free movement of on the other side, by the facing material, the elements from unfastened relation to faswhereby they ca t come ut or h any tened relation and vice-versa. 30 stantial endwise movement.

other O j e to Provide Positive lo king of Describing the locking members in more detail, the fastening means, and to provide means whereas best seen in Figs. 3-7, the lock bar 30 consists y additional tightening m ns may be employ d of a fiat steel bar, generally of the order of A, inch t draw e assemblies tly together, with thick, and being rounded at each end as seen 'm e sed l ver ft ini i l fastenlngin the front elevation of the assembly. Near the St another Object is to Provide means whereby left end (as seen in the drawing) a non-circular the position of the fastening el ments y be hole 3| is provided, running through from front dily e ed i the j d structure to back face. In one preferred form this hole is Still further objects will appear in the course hexagonal. The pivot pin 40 may be turned of the detailed description. 40 down from hexagonal bar stock of a size to fit In the drawing an illustrative embodiment of nicely in this hole, the center portion! of the my invention is shown, wherein: pivot pin which comes at the saw kerf being of Fig. l is a front elevation, with parts broken non-circular form, as by being left in original away, of a pair of adjacent panels joined together hexagonal form when the pin is formed from by my fastening device, which appears in dotted hexagonal bar stock, and the ends 42, 43 being lines in locked position and in retracted positurned down to form cylinders fitting nicely in tion. the hole 26 bored through the framing member.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1; The cylindrical portions are tangent with the Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the lock bar; centers of the hexagonal faces which remain in- Fig. 4 is a front view of the bushing or pivot the center portion. Preferably the points of the pin, on an enlarged scale; hexagonal portion II are slightly rounded. After Fig. 5 is a top view of the same; the lock bar is inserted, the pivot pin 40 is started Fig. 6 is a front view of the locking pin, on an into the hole at the front face. The cylindrical enlarged scale; and end 62 enters without difficulty, and the pin is Fig. 7 is a top view of the same. 86 then driven in the rest of the way, the hexagonal In a preferred embodiment as illustrated, adjacent members, as wall sections l2, I3, are made up with framing members l4, I! such as 2 x 4's along the adjacent edges, with narrow faces oppoints somewhat deforming the surrounding wood of the framing member but its essential shape being left intact and in close fit with the outer cylindrical end 43 of the pivot pin because of the hexagonal portion's sides being tagent with the cylindrical portion. Thus the non-circular portion 4| of the pivot pin 40 engages the noncircular hole 3| in the lock bar, so that the two can only turn together, while the ends of the pivot pin have a snug fit in the hole through the framing member. By turning the pivot pin, as will be later described, the lock bar is thus swung about the axis of the pivot pin.

At the other end of the lock bar a hook 32 is formed by making a cut up from the bottom of ithe lock bar, the edge 33 of this cut nearer the pivot pin being on a radius substantially centered at the lock pin axis, and its right edge 34 being reversely curved. The top of the out has its far edge spaced farther from the pivot pin axis than is this curve below that location, leaving a projection 35, and above it a cut-back 36. The cut-back 36 thus formed is preferably formed with the same radius as the central portion of the locking pin, and extends farther back from the pivot pin axis than the adjacent portion below, of the curved edge 34.

The locking pin 50 is generally cylindrical, as seen at end portions 52, of a size to fit snugly in the hole 21 provided for it in the framing member, but its central part 53 which comes at the saw kerf is shaped as a cylinder eccentric to the main body, conveniently by turning down this portion eccentrically.

Provision is made for rotating the pivot pin, and thereby the lock bar, and also for rotating the locking pin. This is by providing a. non-circular aperture 44 within one end of the pivot pin, and likewise a non-circular aperture 54 within one end of the locking pin. At the face where these apertures are provided the facing material has holes 28, 29 bored in it of a size large enough to expose the apertures yet small enough to partially overlie the ends of the pins. A key can then be inserted in the apertures to rotate the members.

This construction is particularly well adapted for prefabricated houses, boats, pontoons, canoes, trailers or other structures, capable of being shipped in knockdown condition and assembled on the site. Later disassembly, reshipment, and reassembly on another site are particularly facilitated by this invention. With this construction there is practically no disturbing of the parts of the structure, trim, and decoration, other than the separation at the intended joints.

In shipment the lock bar would normally be retracted into its saw kerf space, by rotating it upwardly as seen in Fig. 1. When the two panels have been placed edge to edge, the tongue and groove shapes helping to position the members and also serving as a weather seal thereafter, a key having a leverage handle extending to the side is inserted in the aperture 44 of the pivot pin 40. This aperture is non-symmetrical about its axis whereby the key must be inserted in one particular position. Thus it is readily possible to tell the position of the lock bar from that of the key, even though the lock bar is hidden. The key is rotated to bring the hook portion of the lock bar down over the locking pin.

The locking pin would be at that time set to have its center eccentric portion 4| closest to the pivot pin axis. After the lock bar projection 35 has snapped past the locking pin and the locking pin is engaged in the cut-back 36 then the key is inserted into the aperture at the end of the locking pin. Again, this aperture is non-symmetrical about its axis, and the position of the locking pin may be seen from the position of the external key. The key is now turned to rotate the locking pin, whereby its eccentric tightens up the pull on the lock bar with great leverage, giving a very tight joint. It will be observed that the curved portion 34 of the lock bar exerted a pull with moderate leverage to draw the sections together when the lock bar was first swung down over the locking pin, and then the subsequent rotating of the locking pin exerted a final powerful force to bring the sections very tightly together.

It will be appreciated that I have shown and described a preferred embodiment and application of my invention, but its advantages may be realized in full or in part by many different forms, and in many different applications besides the edge joining of two flat built-up panels. Hence the invention should be understood as limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

I claims:

1. Fastening means to secure together two members in building construction comprising a lock bar fitting within opposed aperturesin the adjacent edge faces of the members to be joined, a pivot pin rotatably mounted in one of the members and having a non-rotatable engage ment with the lock bar, a keyway in said pivot pin, key means to rotate the pivot pin and with it the lock bar, a lock pin in the other member engaging with the hook portion of the lock bar, a keyway in'said lock pin, and key means to rotate the lock pin after engagement with the hook to tighten the engagement.

2. Device of claim 1 in which the holding pin is rotatable on an axis eccentric to its portion engaging the hook whereby tightening may be effected by rotating the holding pin.

3. Device of claim 1 in which the apertures are each enclosed at all sides except for an opening in each of the faces'to permit the key means to engage the pivot pin and the lock pin, and except at their respective meeting edges whereby complete enclosure is effected when joined.

4. Fastening means for securing together two members in building construction comprising a lock bar fitting within opposed apertures in the adjacent edge faces of the members to be joined, a pivot pin rotatably mounted in one of the members and having non-rotatable engagement with the lock bar, and a holding or locking pin in the other member engaging with the hook portion of the lock bar, each structural member comprising a framing member at the edge to be joined and facing material over the faces of said framing member, the pivot pin and the locking pin each extending through the framing member and being overlayed and held therein by the facing material while permitting access to the pin from without the facing.

5. Device of claim 4 in which keyways are provided at the end of the pivot pin and the locking pin for the reception of a key, and the holes are out in the facing material to expose said keyways while still overlying part of the ends of the pins.

6. A locking means comprising a hidden hook member, a rotatable actuating element for same, a rotatable locking and tightening member having a hidden camming portion, and non-symmetrical non-circular exposed keyways in the of the lock bar,

a hidden camrning portion engageable by the i0 hook, and non-symmetrical non-circular exposed keyways in the front ends of the hook rotator and pin for the insertion of a key whereby they may be rotated, and upon engagement of the pin by the hook the pin may be rotated to tighten the 15 engagement.

8. Fastening means for securing together two members in building construction, comprising a lock bar fitting within the edge of one member, a pivot pin rotatably mounted in said member and having a non-rotatable engagement with the lock bar, said pivot pin having a non-symmetrical and non-circular keyway therein, a lock pin in an opposing edge of the other member engageable by the hook portion of the lock bar, said lock pin also having a non-symmetrical and noncircular keyway therein, and removable key means extending exteriorly of the members to rotate both the lock pin and the pivot pin, whereby their rotative position may be known.

MILES HAROLD CARPENTER. 

